A Journey Back in Time – the Australian Tropics

When planning our adventure, the thought of visiting a rainforest in Australia never crossed my mind. My original impressions of the country included sunny beaches, unusual animals, the barren Outback, a few interesting cities and of course, the Great Barrier Reef. Travel reviews and research led me further.

Fact: Australia’s rain forests are the world’s oldest, dating back over 100 million years. They once covered all of Australia, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth! Climate change and human “advancement” have caused the rain forest to recede down to a thin 375 mile strip along the coast.

Frank and I did two trips to the rainforest during our brief stay in Cairns. One was to Kuranda, “a cultural rainforest village,” which turned out to be pretty touristy. The trip there and back, however, made it more than worthwhile. We took a refurbished train through the rainforest to Kuranda and the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway over the rainforest on the way back.

The second was an all-day journey through the pristine rainforest destinations of Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation. At high tide, this area is the only place in the world where the two most complex ecosystems meet. The tour was truly one of the highlights of our adventure so far. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking…

Kuranda Scenic Railway. Established in 1891.

Refurbished cars on Kuranda Scenic Railway.

Kuranda Scenic Railway through rain forest.

Barron Falls

Cultural Rainforest Village of Kuranda

Kuranda was pretty touristy with lots of shops.

Kuranda

We found this German lady cooking sausages.

Kuranda lunch – da best!

Skyway from Kuranda

The coolest nests!

The nests from below

Skyrail over rainforest back to town

Hydraulic waterskiing lake – no boats!

This area bordering the rainforest grows sugar cane.

The sugar cane is harvested by machines now.

The sugar cane is hauled on rail lines to a nearby plant.

View of Black Mountain as we take a river trip down the Daintree River

Mangroves

Mangroves

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile

Another croc

Heron

Azure kingfisher

Signs for the elusive cassowary

We found a cassowary! Couldn’t get the best picture but he’s in there! He looks prehistoric, like a dinosaur bird.

Kind of cheesy but here is what a cassowary looks like.

Daintree National Park

Loved these roots!

Daintree National Park

Daintree National Park

Daintree National Park

Daintree National Park

Daintree National Park

Mario, our tour guide, fixing us a lunch of barramundi

Rainforest bug

Rainforest bug

Coolest tree ever

Inside the coolest tree ever

crab claws?

The land that time forgot. Looks like Jurassic Park could be filmed here.

Cape Tribulation Beach

Crab art

The elusive Blue Ulysses butterfly

The ferry back from Cape Tribulation. From back in time (no electricity) to civilization.